I love The Dynamic Island, but as all other islands I fall in love with I’m afraid it might be hard to reach.
In iOS 15 Apple gave a major redesign to Safari – they decided to relocate the address bar (the field where you input the URL) from the top of the screen to the bottom. And why? Because it is more accessible to your thumb.
In iOS 16 Apple announced Live Activities, a new type of notification providing you with real-time information that can reduce the amounts of push notifications and unnecessary app opens to check the status of your food delivery or the battery level on your car while it’s charging. Great!
Yesterday Apple introduced The Dynamic Island, yet another new way to interact with your iPhone. The famous notch is now given an all-new purpose in showing you important alerts, notifications and activities. And to be honest, it’s one of the most beautiful piece of UI I’ve seen in a long time.
But compared to the redesign Apple did with Safari and with Live Activities they’ve now done the opposite with some crucial information on your iPhone. Take receiving a call as an example – it’s super easily accessible on your iPhone today. But if you look at the examples of The Dynamic Island you’ll figure out that the new way of receiving the same call is probably going to be a challenge to reach – especially if you choose the bigger iPhone model.
How many times have you accidentally started a video call in a group chat in Snapchat because the back button is placed as far from your thumb as I can be placed and so annoyingly close to the video button? (Btw, this is a probably intentional, because now everyone knows Snapchat offers video chats. And I mean, why would you put the back button on the right side of the screen!?)
To summarize I love how Apple are going in a direction where some information on your iPhone is more critical to you than other – and that you have the power to choose what information is important to you.
If you have an app in the AppStore that provides the user with important alerts, notifications or activities – this is your time to shine. With Live Activities and The Dynamic Island Apple is providing you an elegant way to communicate to your users. But remember, the user is in charge.